Subscribe To
Sustain Us

Popularise CC

Join News Letter

Iraq

Peak Oil

Climate Change

US Imperialism

Palestine

Latin America

Communalism

Gender/Feminism

Dalit

Globalisation

Humanrights

Economy

India-pakistan

Kashmir

Environment

Gujarat Pogrom

WSF

Arts/Culture

India Elections

Archives

Links

Submission Policy

Contact Us

Subscribe To Our
News Letter

Name: E-mail:

 

Is Blackwater A Black Hole?

By Stan Moody

25 September, 2007
Countercurrents.org

As private security force, Blackwater, breaks into the news with the recent killing of 11 Iraqi civilians and accusations of illegal arms smuggling, a little-anticipated feature of the War on Terror surfaces. Refer to this feature as "collateral damage" if you will, but the bottom line is that engagement in war produces effects that ripple down through the innocents for generations.

I believe that we will be tasting the stagnation of Blackwater long after our troops return from Iraq and Afghanistan. We are creating a revolutionary force in America, founded on the principles of patriotism but answering to no other authority than the Almighty Buck.

Blackwater exists today because we simply do not have enough troops to prosecute our engagement in the Middle East. It is beginning to appear in hot spots in America, such as Katrina-devastated New Orleans, under the guise of keeping order. It is the privatization movement run amok. It is perfectly legal.

The great irony is that while our nation is engrossed in a campaign to disband militias funded by Syria and Iran, it is doing so with our own private militias – some 180 or more of them operating in the Iraq theatre. Their strength in Iraq is estimated at from 20,000 to 50,000 contract soldiers, although the numbers and their mission are kept from the scrutiny of Congress. How many and what they are doing is a matter of guesswork for those whom we have elected to represent us.

It is not the hundreds of millions of dollars in cost that ought to concern us. We will spend the money either way – private or public militias. What ought to concern us is that we are creating a monster that will impact the lives and liberties of Americans for generations to come.
We are creating a well-trained, well-financed bootjack army available to the highest bidder. On the Blackwater web site, it is claimed that some 50,000 have gone through their training regimen and stand ready for the call. Those who insist that, "It is better to kill them over there than to have them kill us over here," will find that we will bring our killers back home, ready and eager for new assignments.

Spread that over the 180 or more "private security firms" already in operation, and it is easy to see how in the near future there will be at our beck and call here in the United States hundreds of thousands of well-trained killers available to squelch one of our most treasured rights – the right of free speech and peaceful protest. These contract killers are not restrained by such inconveniences as the Military Code of Justice or the constitutional limitations on search and seizure imposed on our public police forces. Their indiscretions can be quickly followed by a public apology.

These soldiers of fortune are hired, not by the Defense Department, but by our State Department, under an obscure program called Wordwide Personal Protective Service (WWPS), formed to provide protection to our diplomats. With 50,000 or more of these contract soldiers now engaged in Iraq, one has to wonder how many diplomats we have there who need protection. 5,000? 10,000? Diplomacy not appearing to play a significant role in the outcome, is it possible that these contract civilians are being hired for one mission but being assigned to another?

Blackwater's founder, reclusive Eric Prince, is no stranger to money. The brother-in-law to Rich DeVos, founder of AMWAY and recent gubernatorial candidate in Michigan, Prince is a multi-millionaire in his own right, having inherited a fortune from his entrepreneur-dad, automotive supply king, Edgar Prince. The family has a long history of heavy involvement in conservative Republican causes centering on privatization initiatives such as school vouchers, tuition tax credits and charter schools. Prince is a board member of Christian Freedom International, a non-profit group helping persecuted Christians around the world in 47 countries but curiously missing from one of the most oppressed regions - the West Bank of the Jordan River.

All of that is fine until it follows the natural progression of evolving into a power base that encroaches into the lives and liberties of Americans under the conviction that we as a nation must be wrenched back on course.

When patriotism and political ideology contract for government services, what is created is a monster for power and control, the antithesis of liberty.

Blackwater is well-named. You cannot see beyond its surface. What lies beneath the surface, however, can be fatal.

 

Leave A Comment
&
Share Your Insights

Comment Policy


Digg it! And spread the word!



Here is a unique chance to help this article to be read by thousands of people more. You just Digg it, and it will appear in the home page of Digg.com and thousands more will read it. Digg is nothing but an vote, the article with most votes will go to the top of the page. So, as you read just give a digg and help thousands more to read this article.



 

Get CC HeadlinesOn your Desk Top

Subscribe To
Sustain Us

 

Search Our Archive



Our Site

Web

Online Users